Well, I don't mind French opposition. At least US knows who their real friends are (see "eastern Europe"). What irks me is the hipocritical stance of "no blood for US oil" and "France wants peace".

Just read two interesting articles. Chirac is ending his luckluster 7 years as prime minister where all he did was fending off the accusations of corruption. He wants to leave a legacy (Bill Clinton, anyone?). His personal dream is to be the leader of unified Europe. He picked the only way to do it- say no to the big, ugly American. It seems to be working domestically, because his popularity doubled. However, he has a problem- the majority of Europe does not want to be led by Franko-German hegemony. That's why he was so shrill about the dissent of the eastern europe. I think, based on the response in these countries (Romanian newspaper headline- "Chirac's Dream is Ending") he picked the wrong fight. He'll loose.

The second article dealt with two business deals involving Iraq. The first one- France's biggest oil company Total just signed $50 billion deal with Saddam. In the opinion of the US oil experts it's the biggest and the most loopsided (in favor of France) deal they've seen. They felt that the $$$ difference amounts to Saddam bribing the French government to support Iraq in the UN. The second was about a $36 billion contract with the Russian firm Lukoil to restore Iraq's oil infrastructure. Iraq cancelled the deal after Russia began supporting US in December. So now Russian oppose war in hopes of getting these monies back. I believe Saddam had similar deals with Germany. All of these deals will be cancelled by the new Iraqi government.

Can you say "No more Iraqi blood for French oil" ???
Anyone wants to comment on the US "War Mongering"???????

__________________
1985 190D 2.2l Sold-to Brother-in-law
1996 Mustang 3.8l -"thinks it's a sports car"
1988 Grand Wagoneer - Sold (good home)
1995 Grand Cherokee Ltd -"What was I thinking??!!"